Travels in Turkey, Asia Minor, Syria, and across the desert into Egypt ...

122 TRAVELS IN ASIATIC TURKEY?
Would ere this have been broken into fragments, which the pil-
grims would have canied off as so many precious relics. The se-
pulchre we are told, was at first a cave hewn in the rock under
ground; but the rock having been since cut away in every direction,
•it appears now in the form of a grotto above ground. In bestow-
ing on it a close inspection, we met with the stone on which they
told us the angel was seated when Mary sought the body of Jesus.
This stone had been removed from the entrance. The small build-
ing, or chapel, in which the sepulchre is enclosed, was lighted by
several large and handsome lamps, a certain number of which are
always kept burning. We were next conducted to all the interest-
ing places which respected our Saviour previously to his death :
such as the spot where he was confined before his trial and con-
demnation; that where he was scourged, and the crown of thorns
placed on his head ; that where he was nailed to the cross, &c.
We saw the fissure in the rock which was rent by the earthquake
at the time he gave up the ghost, together with the place where the
soldiers cast lots for his
garments, and the
spot where his
body was
embalmed.
The whole of this
very extensive
building,
in which the Greeks,
Lathis, Armenians, and Copts, have each respectively a chapel,
stands on Mount Calvary. We visited each of these chapels. Near
to that which was built by St. Helena, the mother of Constantinc
the Great, in commemoration of the finding of the Cross on which
our Saviour was crucified, we saw the cavern which was formerly
the grand reservoir of water that contained the Cross. In the mid-
dle of the Greek chapel stands a marble basin fixed on the ground,
which the Greek priests told us was not only placed in the centre of
the pile g( buildings, but in the centre of the universe. This beau-
tiful chapel is built of yellow and white marble ; and several of the
columns are of verd antique. We next proceeded to the chapel
where Mary visited Jesus, the pavement of which is of beautiful
marble, inlaid and ornamented with much taste. In the course of
our inquiries, we saw the tomb of Baldwin, governor of Jerusa-
lem, who was killed during the crusades.
The beauty and grandeur of these buildings do great credit to the
age in which they were executed. Over the gate which led us to
the elegant structure, erected by the order of St. Helena, in which
the holy sepulchre, and the memorable spots I have noticed above,
are enclosed, we>saw the vestiges of several pieces of fine sculp-